SharedDesks - an Airbnb for office space?

Over the past five years, co-working has emerged as a movement that is changing how entrepreneurs and innovators work.

Co-working has been touted as everything from a way to find a job for the unemployed to the "future of work".

It started out as a loose community for the self-employed, bringing freelancers and independents together to share space and resources, but has evolved into an all-around platform for various types of businesses and organizations, including startups, social enterprises, nonprofits, and even corporations.

Not surprisingly co-working and the overall trend of 'collaborative consumption' is becoming more and more popular. More mature concepts like car-sharing has services like Zipcar and newer ideas like help with your chores and tasks have services like TaskRabbit.

But what about co-working?

Enter SharedDesks - a Vancouver startup that is building an office sharing platform. Think Airbnb but for office space instead of residiential properties.

We're all about people and experiences. SharedDesks is helping people connect with fun, creative coworkers and work spaces. We offer nomad workers, entrepreneurs, and freelancers an easy-to-use platform to discover and connect with the best coworking spaces, anywhere, anytime. On the same note, we help hosts to find people that want to join their community.

- Kia Rahmani, CEO

SharedDesks currently has over 500 spaces in 52 countries and gaining some good momentum. The site is slick and makes it easy for anyone to add their spare desk to their global office inventory.

If you've got an idle desk in your office, I suggest you add it to SharedDesks now. Time will tell if they're able to mimic Airbnb's success but in the meantime you might be able to squeeze some extra revenue out of that empty seat.